Free Republic

Senior Senate Republicans are calling on Sen. Ted Cruz to rebuild his strained relationships with his colleagues and apologize to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell before the party establishment considers consolidating behind his presidential bid. Cruz has increasingly called for Republicans to unify behind his candidacy in order to take down front-runner Donald Trump. But in interviews Tuesday with CNN, it's clear Cruz's fellow GOP senators are not willing to do that, at least not yet. Republican senators said that Cruz must return to Capitol Hill and make the case directly to his colleagues to help ease long-festering tensions. And a...

Ted Cruz fought his way to second place in the Republican primary as the conservative who never compromises. But already, he’s learning to stretch. Behind closed doors, Cruz’s aides are talking about how to draw more centrist supporters as Republican rivals drop out. They have given former Jeb Bush donors access to the entire campaign leadership team. And Cruz has made overtures to Senate colleagues who despise him, praising Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio and talking by phone with Lindsey Graham.

Donald Trump will miss the final Republican presidential debate to address a major pro-Israel lobbying organization instead, according to an insider. “Hearing that Trump secured a Monday night speaking slot at AIPAC conf. in D.C,” tweeted Noah Pollak, executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, referencing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “Also happening that night: [the] Republican debate in Salt Lake City,” he added, alluding to the 13th GOP presidential contest on March 21. Fox News announced on Monday that it is hosting next week’s contest in Salt Lake City -- its fourth event this presidential election. Trump...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush may have dropped out of the presidential race weeks ago — but his name is on the ballot in Florida on Tuesday anyway. And he may get a good chunk of votes in the primary — perhaps the final insult for Marco Rubio, who trails front-runner Donald Trump by 17 points in the latest poll out Monday. The votes could come on two fronts: absentee voting started weeks before Bush left the race, and the fact his name remains on the ballot Tuesday despite suspending his campaign.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigned with Ohio Gov. John Kasich at two stops in the Buckeye State. “This is the guy that Ohio needs to vote for. America is counting on you,” Romney said at a town-hall forum in North Canton. Romney did not officially endorse Kasich, but it is the first time he campaigned for a candidate during the GOP primary. The former Massachusetts governor also recorded robocalls for Kasich, something Florida Sen. Marco Rubio received as well.

John Kasich on Tuesday said he will soon weigh in on the "deep concerns" he has with his rival campaigns, especially Donald Trump's. "I will be, however, forced going forward to talk about some of the deep concerns I have about the way this campaign has been run by some others -- by one other, in particular," Kasich told reporters. "But today is not the day to do that." The Ohio governor had just cast his ballot for himself at a polling place in Westerville, Ohio.

Shows willingness to compromise on gun rights. It could be the most damaging “Dear John” letter of the 2016 presidential primary race. A letter from former President Bill Clinton disclosed just days before the Ohio primary is causing Ohio Gov. John Kasich problems on the campaign trail. Kasich tells GOP voters he can “get things done” by working with Democrats but also stresses he is a “defender of the 2nd Amendment.” The letter from Clinton shows Kasich made a deal to restrict the Second Amendment rights of American “on one of the most critical votes on guns ever,” according to...

Ohio State Representative Wes Retherford, who is currently seeking his third term, told Breitbart News that Ohio certainly isn’t “signed, sealed and delivered for Kasich.” “I think it’s going to be real close,” the Republican predicted about the Buckeye state primary today between Ohio Gov. John Kasich and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. “I don’t think it’s signed, sealed and delivered for Kasich.” -snip- “It’s coming across as Kasich is desperate,” he added, referencing both Boehner and 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigning for Kasich in Ohio, adding that Kasich is “pulling in people nobody wants to help him out.”

“It’s all so senseless,” Maureen Maloney said of the death of countless Americans at the hands of illegal aliens. Maloney’s 23 year-old son Matthew was hit by a repeat-offending illegal alien drunk driver. Although Matthew survived the initial crash, he died as he was subsequently dragged a quarter of a mile—caught in the wheel well of the illegal alien’s pick up truck— as the alien sought to flee the crime scene. “Witnesses who saw [Matthew] pinned screaming under the truck ran out and pounded on the vehicle, crying out to the driver who kept going…'[Matthew] was alive for a good...

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he has to win and expects to do well in his home state of Ohio among the Republican primaries today, adding he'll also do well in other states. "You'll see tonight. We're going to win Ohio," Kasich said in an interview on “Good Morning America.” “We have to win.” He added: "We're going to do better in Illinois that anybody thinks."

Mitt Romney returned to the presidential campaign trail Monday to call on Ohio Republicans to back Gov. John Kasich in Tuesday’s primary. Aides to both Romney and Kasich insisted the appearances didn’t constitute an endorsement, but Mr. Romney urged the audience at an airplane museum here to vote for Mr. Kasich. “You look at this guy and unlike the other people running, he has a real track record,” Mr. Romney said. “It’s the kind of record that you want in Washington.” Mr. Romney added, while standing alongside Mr. Kasich on stage here: “This is the guy that Ohio needs to...

As the Republicans brace for an all-important Ohio primary, the candidates are already making their last-minute pitches with the hope of swaying the voters to their respective sides. -snip- While Trump is a hardliner when it comes to saying no to illegal immigrants, even proposing for the U.S.-Mexico bordering wall, Kasich has taken a whole lot of a softer stance on the matter. Speaking in front of a crowd in Ohio, Kasich rationalized his position on immigration by drawing a line between illegal immigrants who have criminal records and illegal immigrants in general. He said that while those who violate...

Governor John Kasich held an election eve rally in his hometown of Westerville on Monday. The event started at 6 p.m. at Westerville Central High School. Former GOP nominee Mitt Romney joined Kasich at two campaign stops in Ohio Monday, including the rally in Westerville. “I came here to make it real clear that all of America is watching what Ohio does,” said Romney, with Kasich and his family standing nearby.

If you live in Ohio and voting for GOP Republican candidate John Kasich, you may want to reconsider. Under Kasich’s watch, the state of Ohio has lost over 112,500 jobs and many more high-paying manufacturing jobs. In addition if elected president, Kasich will grant amnesty to the over 12 million illegal immigrants and their offsprings, support and continue Obamacare and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreements. Whomever you vote, just know this, Kasich has stated, “If I get to be president, I’m going to golf.” America does not need another President who is lazy and doesn’t care about our well-beings. We...

Hoping to end the campaign of John Kasich, Donald Trump rumbled into the Ohio Governor’s backyard Monday night to trash his rival for the Republican nominee as a job-killing free-trader. Trump was looking to gin up support in the hard-hit steel country near Youngstown, where the only thing that most mills make these days is rust. Trump’s brand of populism is finding a receptive audience in Ohio, just as it did in Michigan a week earlier, and he is promising to claw back outsourced jobs. “Ohio is going to make America great again,” Trump said in an airplane hangar, his...

It looked like an endorsement, and it sounded like an endorsement — but seriously, folks, it was just nice to have Mitt Romney in town. -snip- The only discord in North Canton came when a heckler held a sign referring to an unpaid bill of more than $11,000 related to security and other costs from Romney’s visits in 2012. The Romney campaign has disputed that the money is owed, but North Canton Mayor David Held said the campaign essentially stiffed a struggling city. “I think it illustrates the disconnect between mainstream America and Washington, D.C.,” Held said in an interview...

n your wildest imagination a year ago, you never would have pictured the Republican presidential race this way on the eve of the Ohio primary. John Kasich, the state's popular two-term governor, takes the stage at a high school about a mile from his home. At this moment, he is the GOP establishment's last best hope. There's Mitt Romney by his side. The same Mitt Romney who, when he was the Republican nominee in 2012, received little help or enthusiasm from Kasich. Except this is really happening. And yet it's not the most confident pose for Kasich. He is fighting...

Mitt Romney, in his latest attempt to help stop Donald J. Trump, joined Gov. John Kasich of Ohio on the campaign trail on Monday as Mr. Kasich tries to pull out a victory in his home state. At an air museum between Akron and Canton, where Mr. Kasich’s campaign bus pulled in next to a World War II-era bomber, Mr. Romney highlighted Mr. Kasich’s experience in Congress and as Ohio’s governor. “Unlike the other people running, he has a real track record,” Mr. Romney said in introducing Mr. Kasich at the town hall style event. “He has the kind of...

In a series of campaign stops today , Gov. John Kasich talked about tone, policy and the differences between him and Donald Trump, his chief rival for Ohio voters for the GOP presidential nomination. For Ohio Public Radio, WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more from one of those stops. The first question raised at a town hall at the military air museum near the Akron-Canton Airport was about immigration. Gov. Kasich said he supports completing the border fence and establishing a path to legalization for those here illegally – though not citizenship. He flatly rejected the idea of the mass deportations...

In a room full of Republican donors last week, Gov. John Kasich said something you don’t normally hear at a GOP fundraiser. “This isn’t popular to always say, but I believe there is a problem with climates, climate change in the atmosphere,” Kasich told a Ross County Republican function on Thursday. “I believe it. I don’t know how much there is, but I also know the good Lord wants us to be good stewards of his creation. And so, at the end of the day, if we can find these breakthroughs to help us have a cleaner environment, I’m all...